CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Archie Miller brought his maddening basketball team to the State Farm Center on the final Thursday night of the regular season for a game that, in spite of just about everything, actually mattered toward its NCAA Tournament résumé.

As of 10 days ago, Indiana seemed to be hurtling toward a March without a postseason. Even its NIT hopes were starting to fade. After a 12-2 start that included impressive wins over Marquette and Louisville, the Hoosiers spent six weeks in free fall, grabbing onto a limb with an overtime upset at Michigan State on Feb. 3 only to lose their grip again and keep plummeting until they had dropped 12 of 13 games and fallen to 13-14 overall, 4-12 in the Big Ten.

But somehow, all of those losses weren’t enough to bury the Hoosiers, and upset victories over Wisconsin and Michigan State have been enough to resurrect their season. They may have only won a third of their Big Ten games, but they have six Quadrant 1 victories...